Our backyard

Our backyard is the place where Jaxi goes to be a dog.
It is also a garden of love.
An orange tree planted on the day Tommy was born shades the old dog house that Tommy and I built.
There is a bird feeder, a bird bath, a deck framed with stones from a church, and a sidewalk from Lowes.
Tiki torches and a fire bucket bring it all to glow at night.

Two Barbeque grills, a hansom close line, graves of cats, birds, hamsters, gerbils, and fish.
Pots upon pots of things that are trying to grow spill around Aaron and Mary’s porch table and chairs.

The sky is large in our backyard.
There is an Owl, and elves, and angels, and saints, and a Buddha, and shells, and vines around fishing poles, and driftwood, and river rocks, a very well dressed duck, and a scarecrow.

Our backyard is home to gathering sparrows chirping, song birds in flight, brightly colored panicky birds, and rude fat pigeons.

A family that moves away and leaves their backyard before the children are in high school will return to find that the backyard has shrunk. Not so with our backyard; we are still here, our roots are firm, and our backyard is large enough to host generations of softball games but small enough to hold in our hearts.